Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Berlin's major newspapers have run wall-to-wall coverage of terrorism.

(Photo: Kendall Creighton)

What is the economic cost of terrorism?

Berlin's major newspapers have run wall-to-wall coverage of terrorism.

It feels trivial to ask such a question after the recent attacks in Paris.

With airports around the world on higher alert, how do you feel about traveling overseas?

"The airport is a prestige object for each bomber" warned federal police spokesman last week at Frankfurt Airport, a major international hub that sees thousands of passengers a day.

As some of you know, I moved to Berlin from the US over the summer.

Military patrol Brussels airport, Nov. 18, (Dirk Waem - AFP)

The mood here is that Germany's a little more insulated from these militant Islamist threats.

There isn't the same anxiety that we could be subject to attacks like those suffered nearly two weeks ago in Paris.

Although, it's inevitable that in the coming weeks questions will be raised about how to secure the borders more effectively and how to determine whether terrorists are using the influx of refugees to infiltrate Europe.

Berlin is the most American city in Europe. English seems like the local language. Many artists, particularly from North America are attracted to the city partly because it feels like home. Yet Berlin works better than any city in America. It's got better public transportation and better services.

Chancellor Angela Merkel haspromised the Parisians that Germany would work together with France to fight against terrorism and declared, wir weinen mit Ihnen, "we cry with you".

Though Germany's present government reflects a strong aversion to fighting fire with fire, indicating its post-war experiences of economic growth, reunification and peace.

For many Germans, drinking mulled wine with family or colleagues at Christmas markets is a long-standing tradition. The country's roughly 2,500 markets attract over 50 million visitors a year_ according to the Federal Association of Fairground Showmen and Market Traders. Berlin alone is home to some 60 seasonal markets. Since most are held on large, open spaces, have mazelike layouts and have no designated entry points, security can be particularly tricky. (photo: Alliance, DPA)

So most Europeans are going about their business, but the global tourism industry is rattled.

Tour operators cancelled package trips and some predicted a further slowdown in bookings as jittery travellers hold off on immediate plans or look to go elsewhere.

Some big-spending Chinese tourists are shunning Paris for now and opting instead to visit Germany and other European cities.

The message from France is a plea for tourists to come back and show international fraternité to counteract terrorism and show solidarity for their way of life.

Yet, given events over the past month - the destruction of a plane full of Russian holidaymakers; the bombing in Beirut; the attacks in Paris; the 11-year-old girl used as a suicide bomber in Nigera, much will depend not only on local psychology but also on the willingness of visitors to set worries aside.

Still, this is the start of a traditionally significant Christmas season for Europe.

Pope Francis cast a gloomy light on the coming celebrations. "Christmas is coming. There will be lights, there will be parties, trees all lit up and nativity scenes," he said. But it is "all a charade. The world continues to be at war."

Among airlines operating regular flights to the French capital, security has been stepped up.

A spokesman for South Korea's Asiana Airlines said last week, "On Sunday alone, we had 50 cancellations out of 300 bookings. Paris has always been a fully-loaded r

oute for us, but loading has dropped to 70-80% since the attacks."

Several US airlines waived cancellation fees for those booked on flights to Paris in the coming weeks.

Paranoia Is Powerful

As travel author, Rick Steves, likes to point out: Europe is safer than the USA statistically.

America is well-known for random shootings, yet people from all over the world still visit the US.

Tourism is a major part of the economy. What would happen if the rest of the world held to an isolationist attitude? Would people even leave their homes?

Travel and exposure to other points of view are the only way to bridge the gaps in understanding the world's problems.

Audio of the Week!

Listen to FlyersRights' Richard Baxley talk on a variety of airline passenger issues with KBOO Radio on Monday, Nov. 23!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Cramped - The way airlines have taken 130-seat airplanes and expanded them to 150 seats to squeeze out more revenue, results in higher DVT risks for passengers.

Last Wednesday, singer and dancer Tamar Braxton, 38, stunned fans when she announced that due to blood clots, allegedly caused by frequent flights, she will be leaving Dancing With The Stars.

It's a reminder that DVT (deep vein thrombosis) can easily strike the young and fit.

We've known for a long time that passengers' risk of DVT (also knows as economy class syndrome) is high on long-haul flights of over three hours.

DVT is caused by immobility over a sustained period and claims the lives of a number of airline passengers each year.

People who fly four hours or more, the World Health Organization found, have three times the risk of developing clots compared with periods when they did not travel.

The blood clot is, in medical-speak, a deep vein thrombosis. If it stays in the leg it can cause stiffness and pain, but if it moves up the body it can cause real trouble.

It can pass through the big vessels of the heart without much difficulty, but when it gets to the smaller vessels supplying the lungs it can cause a massive blockage, cutting off oxygen supply to the body: a pulmonary embolism, that may result in death.

About 300,000 people per year die of blood clots which some medical authorities consider to be as dangerous as high cholesterol for strokes and heart attacks.

Though most blood clots are usually not fatal, the fact is you can die if not treated as soon as signs manifest themselves.

Symptoms typically include unexplained pain, tenderness, redness and swelling, often in the leg. Once a clot has traveled to the lung, common symptoms include chest pain and breathing difficulties.

A Dutch research team found that one outof 4,500 people who fly will end up with a blood clot scenario within eight weeks after traveling. The risk increases with the duration of a flight and the number of flights in a short period.

Another study (see footnotes) found that over 5% of passengers developed DVT on transatlantic flights, even with exercise.

Shake A Leg

The primary preventive recommendation has been for airline passengers to exercise every half hour -now completely impractical with cramped space and narrow crowded aisles in nearly all classes.

Some doctors now recommend taking pycnogenol (a pine bark extract) before and after long flights. Aspirin and anticoagulant medicine is not effective in preventing DVT, as it can cause uncontrolled bleeding.

The researches also warn against wearing commercial compression stockings and also provide a list of recommended exercises you can do to help prevent DVT.

The airline industry has known about the dangers of DVT for nearly 75 years. Airline company doctors have known about the risks of immobility since 1940 and the risks of immobility on long-haul flights since 1968.

Later in 1985, a group of doctors wrote a letter to the medical journal Lancet reporting that they had treated large numbers of airline passengers suffering blood clots. "We see a steady stream of illnesses which have developed in flight. The major manifestation of the illness may not occur until after disembarkation. We have seen several patients with thromboembolism presenting in this way, with a near fatal outcome in one case."

The most obvious and long term solution involves the reorganisation of airline seating arrangements, as well as the provision of space and facilities for in-flight movement and exercise.

Flyersrights.org has filed a rulemaking petition with the FAA to increase seat size and stop further shrinkage, in order to mitigate against DVT as well as for safety and comfort reasons.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Last week, that storied American subculture of illicit dealings, corruption and power structure made a startling return to news headlines.

The big three US airlines were accused by their smaller rivals of putting a stranglehold on competition at the three major NYC area airports.

Top executives from Virgin America, Frontier Airlines, Allegiant Air, Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration and the US Transportation Department to make it easier to obtain slots at New York JFK, LaGuardia and Newark.

In the letter, the smaller airlines accuse the big three of having a "vise grip" on hundreds of slots while they "struggle to obtain even one or two slot pairs".

A landing slot, takeoff slot, or airport slot is a right granted by an airport which allows the slot holder to schedule a landing or departure during a specific time period. Landing slots are allocated in accordance with guidelines set down by the International Air Transport Associations Worldwide Airport Slots Group and overseen by the FAA.

The big three airlines paid nothing to get these slots. They were given by government action. The airlines do not own them, they belong to the government, so government action can take them away and redistribute them. Just ask the Harrimans, the Vanderbilts & Rockefellers about this.

The big three airlines account for 91% of all slots operated by US passengers at Newark 81% of slots at LGA, and 63% of slots at JFK. By contrast, the smaller carriers operate less than 1% of slots at JFK and LGA, and less than 2% at EWR.

Yes, in their alternative universe, the major airline CEOs think that the only way they can compete is to, well, have less competition!

The letter gives incredible insight into the spectacle at a time when depictions of mafia power are mostly relegated to re-runs of The Sopranos and Hollywood movies.

America The Banana Republic?

The ongoing injustice is just the latest example of a disturbing trend that threatens to put the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave on a par with Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Equatorial Guinea.

Back in September, the CEO of United Airlines along with two top lieutenants were fired related to a federal investigation surrounding a special weekly flight from Newark to Columbia, S.C., allegedly for David Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Also over the summer, the Department of Justice opened a price-fixing investigation into several US airlines, alleging that the airlines have conspired to limit seat capacity to either maintain or drive up ticket fares.

Where's the line between "business as usual" and corporate corruption?

During the last 10 years, the Associated Press reported that domestic airfares rose faster than inflation. Why?

The AP showed that competition at the biggest airports across the country has been reduced through mergers, creating a situation where passengers are paying higher fares and fees.

Per the AP analysis, a single airline controls a majority of the market at 40 of the top 100 U.S. airports. At 93 of the top 100, one or two airlines control a majority of the seats.

To break it down, it is striking to see the effect that consolidation has had at specific airports. The AP found that consolidation has had a striking effect at certain airports, altering the competitive landscape.

* In Indianapolis, the two leading airlines controlled just 37 percent of the seats a decade ago, and domestic fares were 9 percent below the national average. Then the city's main airline, ATA, went bankrupt and was bought by Southwest, and its No. 2 carrier, Northwest, was absorbed by Delta. Now two airlines control 56 percent of the seats, and airfares are 6 percent above the national average.

* The Dayton, Ohio, airport was served by 10 airlines in 2005, and fares were 5 percent below average. Today, just four airlines fly there and prices are almost 10 percent above average.

* Big hub airports aren't immune. In 2005, US Airways controlled nearly 66 percent of the seats in Philadelphia. Now that US Airways has merged with American, the combined airline has 77 percent of the seats. Airfare has gone from 4 percent below average to 10 percent above it.

* Delta's hold on Atlanta, the world's busiest airport, increased during that same period from 78 percent of seats to just over 80 percent. At the same time, low-cost AirTran merged into Southwest and reduced flights there. Domestic airfares at the airport went from nearly 6 percent below average to 11 percent above.

* Some cities are actually seeing lower fares than they did a decade ago. Prices in Denver were once 5.6 percent higher than the national average. Now that United's market share there has dropped to 41 percent from 56 percent, fares are almost 15 percent lower than the rest of the country.

In most markets, you're choosing between two airlines. In some, there is no choice. That's one big reason why the airlines are also trying to put a chokehold on further competition in international markets by bullying foreign carriers such as Norwegian Air and the three major Gulf airlines.

So powerful is the entrenched power structure within the industry that even privileged state carriers find it hard to obtain permission to establish new air routes originating from their rivals' base areas.

It's Called A Shared Monopoly

There are more important interests than the greed of a small and exclusive club of corporate robber barons. America needs a safe and dependable transportation network, providing decent service at a fair price. Responsible government oversight of this important infrastructure industry is essential to restore its position as a servant of the public interest.

Ensuring fair competitoin and market access for all is an essential function of government. People often forget that we, the flying public, are the intended beneficiaries of rules and regulations governing airline operations.

Airport slots belong to the people of the USA. Carriers can rent use of the airspace and runways on an equal basis. They are public assets used by private companies for profit. Allowing private companies to own public assets in perpetuity is a dangerous precedent.

It's about competition. And that is VERY American.

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Intention of this blog

We are commited to solutions for promoting airline passenger policies that forward first and foremost the safety of all passengers while not imposing unrealistic economic burdens that adversely affect airline profitability or create exhorbitant ticket price increases.

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Proposed Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights

All American air carriers shall abide by the following standards to ensure the safety, security and comfort of their passengers:

Establish procedures to respond to all passenger complaints within 24 hours and with appropriate resolution within 2 weeks.

Notify passengers within ten minutes of a delay of known diversions, delays and cancellations via airport overhead announcement, on aircraft announcement, and posting on airport television monitors.

Establish procedures for returning passengers to terminal gate when delays occur so that no plane sits on the tarmac for longer than three hours without connecting to a gate.

Provide for the essential needs of passengers during air- or ground-based delays of longer than 3 hours, including food, water, sanitary facilities, and access to medical attention.

Provide for the needs of disabled, elderly and special needs passengers by establishing procedures for assisting with the moving and retrieving of baggage, and the moving of passengers from one area of airport to another at all times by airline personnel.

Publish and update monthly on the company’s public web site a list of chronically delayed flights, meaning those flight delayed thirty minutes or more, at least forty percent of the time, during a single month.

Compensate “bumped” passengers or passengers delayed due to flight cancellations or postponements of over 12 hours by refund of 150% of ticket price.

The formal implementation of a Passenger Review Committee, made up of non-airline executives and employees but rather passengers and consumers – that would have the formal ability to review and investigate complaints.

Make lowest fare information, schedules and itineraries, cancellation policies and frequent flyer program requirements available in an easily accessed location and updated in real-time.

Ensure that baggage is handled without delay or injury; if baggage is lost or misplaced, the airline shall notify customer of baggage status within 12 hours and provide compensation equal to current market value of baggage and its contents.

Require that these rights apply equally to all airline code-share partners including international partners.